WSU Robot Experience

On November 4, 21 families and Thunder Mountain Middle School teacher Lisa Horton drove to WSU branch campus in Spokane to see the Da Vinci Surgical Robot, along with a side trip to the Engineering Labs at Eastern.

According to Horton, "Both experiences were AMAZING." Students toured the Engineering Labs where they saw all the current projects that students are working on. After the tour, the group traveled to WSU and students trained on two Da Vinci Robots.

Doctors are actually trained on one of these robots! "We were 'operating' and controlling the robot while our patient (which were different inanimate objects) was about five feet away from us," explained Mrs. Horton.

The second robot was a simulation where students were scored on their skills. The two highest scores for the day were earned by two Thunder Mountain students (they even surpassed college students). When the group was in the engineering labs, one young man told Mrs. Horton, "I feel like I am home - this is where I belong" and another student said after working with the robot, "I can do this; really, I can see myself doing this!" Thank you to the families, teachers, and organizations who make these opportunities happen for our students!